According to the latest available data, as of September 10, France was at nearly 92% of its storage capacity and the countries of the European Union were on average at 93% and therefore above the objective of 90% as of November 1.
The French gas industry has appeared “calm” for next winter, given that stocks are already well filled, despite the halt in the transit of Russian gas via Ukraine, at a press conference on Thursday. “To date, we are quite calm about the passage of the coming winter, we are in roughly the same conditions as last year, even slightly better, since storage is roughly 90% full,” declared Sandrine Meunier, CEO of GRT Gaz, the main French gas transport operator and second largest European transporter.
“We have stable consumption and LNG supplies that are also at a good level, so we don’t really see any tension on the network to date,” she added, while calling for “moderation” to be maintained in order to protect against a possible strong cold snap.
“Since 2022, there has really been a very big anticipation in the filling of storages,” added Laurence Poirier-Dietz, CEO of GRDF, the main gas distribution operator. She stressed that the level of 90% filling of stocks was previously observed “much later in the season, around October or mid-November”. “We have a winter 2024-2025 which is secure and, depending on market prices, the constitution of stocks will be done in the most judicious way, but today, we are not on alert on these subjects for our winter,” concluded Laurence Poirier-Dietz.
Uncertainty over supply to European countries in the medium term
Following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and the drastic reduction in Russian supplies, the twenty-seven member countries of the European Union adopted a legislative framework in June 2022 requiring them to collectively achieve a 90% filling rate for their gas storage facilities by November 1 of each year. The aim was to strengthen their energy autonomy and reduce their dependence on Russian gas supplies. According to the latest available data, as of September 10, France was at nearly 92% filling of its storage facilities and EU countries on average at 93%.
While this dependence has been significantly reduced since February 2022 and the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, thanks to the increasing use of liquefied natural gas transported by ship, and Norway’s rise in pipeline supply, Russia has continued to supply gas to Europe via Ukraine. But President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on August 27 that Ukraine would not renew its contract with Russia until December 31, bringing a degree of uncertainty to the supply of European countries in the medium term.
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